When I talk about baby and child sleep, I always use three words:

Simple,

Straightforward,

and safe.

Doing your absolute best to keep your little one safe is one of the most important parts of your job as a parent or caregiver, and that applies to when they’re sleeping too.

You might have heard of Red Nose Australia, which used to be known as ‘SIDS and Kids’. Red Nose is an incredible organisation dedicated to empowering families with information and advice on safe sleep and healthy pregnancy, as well as offering support to anyone affected by grief and loss of a child. 

Red Nose has had a huge impact on the number of babies and children lost to SIDS, thanks to their safe sleep recommendations. These are:

1 – always place baby on their back to sleep

2 – keep baby’s face and head uncovered

3 – keep baby smoke free, before and after birth

4 – provide a safe sleeping environment, day and night

5 – sleep baby in their own safe sleep space in the parent’s or caregiver’s room for the first 6 months

6 – breastfeed baby.

https://rednose.org.au/article/red-nose-six-safe-sleep-recommendations

These recommendations are sensible, evidence-based, and save lives, and as a baby and child sleep expert, a parent, and a safe sleep advocate, I urge you to PLEASE follow points 1, 2, 3 and 4. 

When it comes to points 4 and 5, I encourage the families I support to make the decision that works best for THEIR family. Let me tell you why.

Sharing a room with your baby can work beautifully for some families, but for others, that’s just not the case. Babies can be noisy when they sleep – some babies grunt and groan in their sleep, you may hear little tummies gurgling, and some babies coo, sigh, or whimper. All of this can make it challenging for YOU to get the sleep you need, and it makes it harder to give your little one a chance to settle themselves back to sleep when they wake momentarily too.

And as your baby gets a bit older – around the 4 to 5-month mark – they start to become very aware of all the sounds, sights, and smells in the room with them. This almost always leads to disturbed sleep during the night and makes it a challenge for them – and for you – to get the rest you all need.

So when it comes to choosing where to create your baby’s safe sleeping environment, remember to think about what’s going to work in your personal situation.    

I also believe that point 6 – to breastfeed your baby – is good advice based on evidence, but whether you breastfeed or not ultimately comes down to what works for you and your little one. That might be bottle feeding, and that’s perfectly OK!

I breastfed my first child, Poppy, exclusively, and that worked well for us. My third child, Eddie, was breastfed until he was around 6 months old, then he moved to the bottle because of his allergies, intolerances and slow weight gain. And with my second, Harry, we tried breastfeeding but it just didn’t work out, so he was bottle fed from early on. Three babies – all fed differently, and all slept safely.

Remember, sometimes breastfeeding isn’t right for you, and your baby CAN still sleep safely if they’re bottle fed. Doing what works best for YOUR family puts you in a much better headspace to follow all the other advice for raising a healthy baby – and that includes Red Nose’s safe sleep recommendations.     

Head to the Red Nose Australia website – https://rednose.org.au – to learn more about their safe sleep guidelines, or if you’re outside Australia, find out about your local SIDS and safe sleep organization and follow their safe sleep recommendations. These guidelines really do make a difference in making sure our little ones sleep soundly and safely.  

For more sensible, straightforward, safe advice and resources on getting your family the sleep you all deserve, explore my website – sleepbysteph.com.au